Chapter Summaries

Yuan Tai learned that Old Madam needed three days to recover and prepared a final assault to destroy the Sheng Family, driven by the Yuan Family’s demands from Bishop Douglas. As the city’s factions noticed the mobilization, City Lord Xue Dou’s officials disagreed over whether to intervene.

• Yuan Tai confirmed the report about Old Madam’s weakened condition and argued that the Yuan Family had to seize the Sheng Family’s resources to satisfy Bishop Douglas.
• Yuan Tai rejected an immediate attack because Ku Mu and other forces were still recovering, and ordered a coordinated assault with reinforcements at midnight the following night.
• Yuan Beier demanded Sheng Minglan and the Sheng women as spoils, and Yuan Tai silently allowed his request while ordering the Yuan Family to mobilize.
• The Yuan Family recalled its fighters, distributed weapons and armor, and instructed its subordinate factions to prepare for battle.
• Lei Bao urged Xue Dou to consider protecting the Sheng Family, while Su Wen warned that intervening could provoke Spirit Hall.

Xue Dou, Spirit Hall Bishop Douglas, and the academy leaders each made plans for the Yuan Family’s expected attack on the Sheng Family, balancing support and deterrence against the risk of open conflict. As the attack was set for midnight the following night, the factions prepared to watch one another and respond if anyone crossed their limits.

• Mo Chen advised Xue Dou to increase patrols publicly while secretly leaking Yuan Family assembly points and giving the Sheng Family warning time; Xue Dou approved the plan and ordered Lei Bao to arrange it.
• Douglas ordered Yuan Tai to attack the Sheng Family at midnight the next night, with Ku Mu, Crimson Ghost, and Shadow Snake helping seize the family’s resources.
• Douglas directed Shadow Deacon to monitor the City Defense Army and academy leaders, and to provoke a conflict if the academies tried to interfere.
• Shui Wuya, Yao Jinsong, and the academy representatives agreed to raise campus alerts, notify allied forces, and inform Shui Ruoyan and Yao Yuerou about the threat.
• Shui Wuya asked Yao Jinsong to warn the Sheng Family of the academies’ limits and arranged for academy-affiliated guards and mercenaries to conduct routine activity near Sheng Garden.

After Xiao Yun’s pill restored Old Madam Xu Huiyin’s vitality and strengthened her, she brought him valuable materials and asked him to protect the Sheng Family’s younger generation if the Yuan Family’s expected assault on Snow Spirit City overwhelmed them. She explained that she trusted Xiao Yun to help preserve the family’s independence, leaving him to consider her plea.

• Old Madam Xu Huiyin and Sheng Minglan visited Xiao Yun, and Xu Huiyin thanked him for the pill that had broken her long-standing cultivation shackles.
• Xu Huiyin presented Xiao Yun with a chest of rare materials from the Sheng Family treasury, and he accepted the gift.
• Xu Huiyin warned that the Yuan Family would likely attack the following night with at least four Soul Saints and many other powerful fighters.
• Xu Huiyin asked Xiao Yun to protect the Sheng Family’s younger generation and help them evacuate if the family’s defenses collapsed.
• Xu Huiyin explained that seeking refuge with the City Lord’s Mansion could cost the Sheng Family its independence, while sheltering under Xiao Yun might preserve more of its autonomy.

Old Madam secured Xiao Yun’s promise to protect the Sheng Family’s younger generation before the coming battle with the Yuan Family and Douglas. The next morning, the Sheng siblings gathered at Xiao Yun’s courtyard, where Sheng Changbai challenged him to prove he could not be stopped.

• Old Madam asked Xiao Yun to take Sheng Minglan and Sheng Changsong to safety if the Sheng Family faced defeat, and Xiao Yun agreed.
• Old Madam left with Sheng Minglan, declaring that the Sheng Family’s survival would be decided in battle the following night.
• The Sheng Family brought its younger members to Xiao Yun’s courtyard as a precaution, and Sheng Minglan explained the Yuan Family’s impending assault.
• Sheng Changbai tried to leave and fight alongside his family, but Xiao Yun stopped him and said he would serve no purpose but to die.
• Sheng Changbai accepted Xiao Yun’s challenge and manifested the Sheng Family’s inherited Chess-Playing Sword.

Xiao Yun defeated Sheng Changbai without summoning his Martial Soul, effortlessly stopping his sword attacks and breaking his Sword Qi. Sheng Changbai conceded and eagerly asked Xiao Yun to teach him, while his siblings became curious about Xiao Yun’s abilities.

• Sheng Changbai charged at Xiao Yun, but Xiao Yun caught the Chess-Playing Sword’s tip between two fingers and left Sheng Changbai stunned.
• Sheng Changbai used Sword Qi, but Xiao Yun shattered the attacks with a casual wave of his hand.
• Sheng Changbai combined Sword Step and Sword Dance, yet Xiao Yun deflected every strike without moving from his spot.
• Sheng Changbai exhausted his Soul Power, conceded defeat, and asked Xiao Yun to teach him, accidentally calling him “Brother-in-law.”
• Sheng Minglan blushed and dragged Sheng Changbai away to scold him, while Sheng Changsong, Sheng Ruolan, Sheng Hualan, and Sheng Rulan asked Xiao Yun about his techniques and Martial Soul.

Xiao Yun guided the Sheng Family’s young members in developing their Chess-Playing Sword Martial Souls, then tested their response by claiming he could not face the Yuan Family’s Soul Saints. The Sheng family’s dinner ended in despair, while Xiao Yun returned to the Quiet Room still considering his next move.

• Xiao Yun taught Sheng Changsong, Sheng Changbai, Sheng Ruolan, Sheng Hualan, Sheng Rulan, and Sheng Minglan techniques for meditation, sword qi, movement, soul ring selection, and sword training.
• The Sheng siblings practiced under Xiao Yun’s guidance until the meal arrived and they realized night had fallen.
• Sheng Changbai pleaded with Xiao Yun to help the Sheng Family defeat the Yuan Family, and the others looked to him with hope.
• Xiao Yun claimed that his youth and limited cultivation left him unable to contend with the Yuan Family’s Soul Saints, causing the Sheng family’s hopes to fade.
• Xiao Yun sent everyone to rest and returned to the main house’s Quiet Room, where he was not truly uncertain about intervening.

Sheng Minglan tried to offer herself to Xiao Yun in exchange for his protection of the Sheng Family, but he stopped her and promised to help if the family faced a crisis, while accepting her as his own. He then showed the Sheng siblings the Kunlun Mirror (projection) and taught them how to use it to watch Snow Spirit City and aid their family in battle.

• Sheng Minglan entered Xiao Yun's room and tried to offer herself in return for his help, but he restrained her and covered her.
• Xiao Yun comforted Sheng Minglan, promised to protect the Sheng Family in a crisis, and told her she was his by his own choice.
• Xiao Yun summoned Sheng Changsong, Sheng Changbai, and the others to the courtyard and revealed the Kunlun Mirror (projection).
• Xiao Yun used the mirror to show Snow Spirit City and zoomed in on Prosperity Manor and its surroundings.
• Xiao Yun gave the Sheng siblings secondary mirrors and taught them to identify family members and use disruptive energy beams against enemies in emergencies.

Yuan Wu and Spirit Hall attacked the Sheng Family estate, but Old Madam and Chen Xueying led a prepared defense while they drew the enemy Soul Saints into battle outside the city. As the courtyard fight intensified, an unseen force disrupted the attackers’ Soul Power and aided the Sheng Family.

• Xiao Yun reassured Sheng Minglan that the Kunlun Mirror could observe the coming attack without detection, and they watched the estate together.
• Yuan Wu led three Spirit Hall Soul Saints and a Yuan Family retainer into the Sheng Family estate, where Old Madam’s forces were already assembled.
• Old Madam rejected Yuan Wu’s accusation of forbidden cultivation and revealed her strength before challenging him to fight outside the city.
• Yuan Wu, Old Madam, Chen Xueying, and the other Soul Saints left the estate to battle beyond the city, while the remaining forces clashed in the Front Courtyard.
• The Sheng Family’s traps, archers, and Soul Masters checked the attackers, and an unexplained force began disrupting Yuan Family Soul Power while protecting Sheng fighters.

The Sheng Family used hidden defenses, traps, and an illusion to hold off the Yuan Family while Old Madam Xu Huiyin defeated Yuan Wu outside the city. By dawn, the Yuan forces had surrendered or been subdued, and the Sheng Family had survived at great cost.

• Sheng Minglan, Sheng Changsong, Sheng Changbai, and the other youths used Bronze Mirrors to disrupt the Yuan Family attackers while Xiao Yun watched.
• Sheng Hong directed the household traps, then joined Wei Xiaoniang in spreading the Mist Shadow Illusion Realm over the Front Courtyard.
• The Sheng Family’s hidden guards changed formation and killed Yuan Family Soul Emperors and Soul Kings caught in the mist.
• Old Madam Xu Huiyin used her sixth Soul Skill, Burning Heaven, to defeat Yuan Wu, while Chen Xueying killed Wind Falcon and Spirit Hall’s three Soul Saints fled.
• Old Madam announced Yuan Wu’s death, breaking the Yuan Family’s resistance, and the Sheng Family subdued or captured the remaining attackers.
• At dawn, the Sheng Family counted its dead and wounded and began clearing the battlefield after surviving the siege.

After the Sheng Family survived the Yuan Family’s attack, Old Madam ordered the family to recover and document the assault while Xiao Yun followed Yuan Tai back to the Yuan estate. As the Yuan Family fractured from within, Xiao Yun found its hidden treasury and began making his way inside.

• Old Madam thanked Xiao Yun, ordered the Sheng Family to close its doors for a month, record the attack for the City Lord and Spirit Hall, and compensate the fallen families.
• Xiao Yun followed Yuan Tai to the Yuan Family estate using a spiritual mark and learned that Yuan Wu had died and Spirit Hall’s three lords had fled.
• Yuan Tai discovered that Yuan Feng and other relatives and workers had deserted with valuables, materials, and people from the estate.
• Yuan Tai ordered the remaining Yuan Family members to pack the treasury and planned to seek Bishop Salatos’s protection at the Spirit Hall branch.
• Xiao Yun located the Yuan Family treasury beneath a rockery, avoided its Soul King guards, and used Spiritual Power to enter the ground.

Xiao Yun secretly passed through the Yuan Family treasury’s defenses and took its entire fortune, including rare herbs and a powerful Spirit Bone. When the family discovered the theft, suspicion and infighting led to Yuan Tai’s removal, and Spirit Hall expelled the Yuan Family from Snow Spirit City.

• Xiao Yun entered the treasury through its Dark Iron wall and discovered hidden jade boxes containing Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone, Heavy Water Nine Leaf Grass, and a fifty-thousand-year Deep Sea Demon Whale right arm Spirit Bone.
• Xiao Yun used the Exquisite Pagoda to absorb the treasury’s wealth and most of its Night Pearls, then escaped through the earth and stone.
• Yuan Tai, Yuan Hong, and Yuan Kui opened the treasury and found it completely empty, prompting Yuan Tai to suspect a traitor.
• The Yuan Family members accused Yuan Tai of stealing the fortune, and Yuan Zhen led the Elder Council in stripping him of his position and having him seized.
• Yuan Tai and seventeen direct descendants were sent to a rural estate, while the remaining branches divided the family’s assets and scattered.
• Bishop Salatos expelled the Yuan Family from Snow Spirit City and placed its properties under Spirit Hall administration.

After returning from the Yuan Family, Xiao Yun explained its collapse and warned Ming Lan that Spirit Hall could retaliate against the Sheng Family. He reassured her that she could best help her family by focusing on the merchant guild, and Ming Lan left to check on its businesses.

• Ming Lan waited for Xiao Yun and asked where he had gone.
• Xiao Yun told Ming Lan he had followed Yuan Tai to the Yuan Family, where the treasury had been emptied and the family had fallen into infighting.
• Xiao Yun explained that the Sheng Family could not safely annex the Yuan Family's businesses because Spirit Hall and other powerful forces might turn against them.
• Ming Lan admitted she found political intrigue exhausting, and Xiao Yun encouraged her to focus on managing the Prosperous Dynasty Merchant Guild.
• Ming Lan accepted his advice and left to check on the guild's innkeepers and shop assistants.

After the Sheng Family crushed the Yuan Family, Cardinal Salatos ordered Spirit Hall to seize Yuan property and investigate the Sheng Family’s mysterious advantages. In Snow Spirit City, Xue Dou and Mo Chen suspected the Sheng Family had another powerful combatant, possibly a Soul Douluo.

• Salatos learned that Yuan Wu, Wind Falcon, and many Yuan Family fighters had died while the Sheng Family suffered few losses.
• Crimson Ghost, Shadow Chaser, and Ku Mu reported that Xu Huiyin seemed fully recovered and may have obtained an Eighth Soul Ring, while mysterious rays and barriers aided the Sheng Family.
• Salatos ordered the three Soul Saints and Punishment Knights to seize Yuan Family properties, kill resistance, and leave only obedient survivors as puppets.
• Salatos told Spirit Hall to investigate Xu Huiyin’s recovery, the battlefield rays, and unfamiliar Soul Masters who had entered Snow Spirit City.
• Xue Dou reviewed the battle report with Mo Chen, and they concluded that the Sheng Family’s victory suggested another Soul Saint or even a Soul Douluo.
• Xue Dou asked Mo Chen which faction might be behind the Sheng Family.

After the Sheng Family defeated Spirit Hall and the Yuan Family, Snow Spirit City’s leaders weighed how to respond to the mysterious victory. The City Lord’s Mansion and the Four Great Academies chose caution, while new information about a powerful potential backer hinted that the city’s balance of power could soon change.

• Mo Chen advised Xue Dou to keep the City Lord’s Mansion neutral, classify the battle as a private family conflict, and avoid investigating further.
• Shui Wuya, Yao Jinsong, Huo Yueyan, and Feng Huayun discussed the Sheng Family’s victory and decided to protect their own territory while maintaining good relations with the family.
• Shui Wuya and Yao Jinsong revealed that Shui Ruoyan and Yue Rou had found a powerful potential backer for the Four Great Academies, connected to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Heaven Dou Royal Family, and Poison Douluo.
• The commissioners agreed to send a trusted instructor to offer condolences to the Sheng Family but to postpone discussing aid or an alliance until Shui Ruoyan and Yue Rou returned.
• Feng Huayun wondered whether the Sheng Family had found the same backer, and Shui Wuya said Snow Spirit City’s balance of power might be changing.

Xiao Yun examined Sheng Minglan’s unusual chessboard Martial Soul and offered her a risky path to change it. Ming Lan chose to entrust her future to him, and Xiao Yun prepared to begin the transformation in private.

• Sheng Minglan visited Xiao Yun as he worked on secret designs and told him she was stuck at level nineteen.
• Ming Lan revealed that her Martial Soul was a weak, incomplete chessboard and described her Qi Domain spirit skill.
• Xiao Yun asked whether Ming Lan wanted to become stronger, and she said she did.
• Xiao Yun offered Ming Lan a Foundation and Longevity Pill and explained two possible paths for her advancement.
• Ming Lan chose the uncertain path of directly altering her Martial Soul and trusted Xiao Yun with her future.
• Xiao Yun sealed the Inner Chamber and told Ming Lan to take the pill and sit cross-legged.

Xiao Yun used the Foundation and Longevity Pill to temper Sheng Minglan's body and rebuild her chessboard Martial Soul, leaving her with a solid Level 21 foundation and a powerful, evolving Soul Ring. After placing her to rest, he went out to meet Sheng Changsong, who had returned with a question about swordsmanship.

• Ming Lan took the pill, and Xiao Yun guided its power through her body to open twelve paths and her Sea of Souls.
• Xiao Yun reshaped Ming Lan's incomplete chessboard Martial Soul by completing its channels, strengthening its core, and forming four auxiliary vortices.
• Xiao Yun infused his Immortal Spirit Qi into the chessboard, creating twenty-seven pairs of black and white pieces and raising its Soul Ring to a deep yellow.
• The transformation left Ming Lan at Level 21 with a solid foundation, and Xiao Yun cleaned her, laid her on the couch, and covered her with a blanket.
• Sheng Changsong called for Xiao Yun from outside the courtyard to ask another question about swordsmanship, and Xiao Yun went out to meet him.

Xiao Yun restored his Immortal Spirit Qi after modifying Sheng Minglan’s Martial Soul and studied Treasure Rune combinations. Sheng Minglan awoke to discover her Martial Soul and cultivation ability had changed dramatically.

• Xiao Yun told Sheng Changsong to guard Sheng Minglan and keep visitors away until she woke, allowing only Old Madam to enter.
• Xiao Yun recovered his spent Immortal Spirit Qi in the Vast Wilderness World, then went to White Jade Capital to study the Treasure Rune Combination Law.
• Sheng Minglan woke beside Old Madam and said she felt lighter and clearer than before.
• Sheng Minglan summoned her transformed chessboard Martial Soul and saw two Hundred-Year Soul Rings and twenty-seven pairs of Black and White Chess Pieces.
• Sheng Minglan tested her cultivation and absorbed Soul Power at more than ten times her former rate.

Sheng Minglan awakened with a second spirit ring and decided she wanted to leave the Sheng Family to serve Xiao Yun as his maid, though Old Madam urged her to reconsider. After learning how her new spirit skill worked, Minglan resolved to grow strong enough to help Xiao Yun and thanked him when they met.

• Sheng Minglan woke with two spirit rings, and Old Madam questioned how she had gained the second one.
• Old Madam asked Sheng Minglan how she felt about Xiao Yun, and Minglan confessed her gratitude and said she planned to become his maid.
• Minglan explained that her Second Spirit Skill, Black and White Chess Pieces, could work with her Qi Domain to trap and suppress enemies.
• Old Madam decided to celebrate Minglan's breakthrough at the family banquet but urged her to think carefully about leaving the Sheng Family.
• Minglan vowed to grow strong enough to help Xiao Yun, then emerged from the Inner Chamber and thanked him.

Xiao Yun entered seclusion in Parasol Tree Courtyard to forge the Azure Wave Feather Fan for Shui Ruoyan, using the Shennong Ding and rare materials. He completed the fan ribs, feather leaves, pins, and outer ribs, leaving the remaining assembly unfinished.

• Xiao Yun told Sheng Minglan to keep everyone away from Parasol Tree Courtyard while he forged artifacts, and she stationed guards around it.
• Xiao Yun summoned the Shennong Ding and began forging an Azure Wave Feather Fan to strengthen Shui Ruoyan's water affinity and Ice Soul Skills.
• Xiao Yun melted Deep Sea Cold Jade and engraved runes onto nine fan ribs before cooling them in spiritual water.
• Xiao Yun used Sky Burning Flame to shape nine thin Deep Sea Cold Iron feather leaves and engraved Water Condensing Runes on them.
• Xiao Yun forged nine Dark Iron fan pins with Master Recognition Runes and two outer ribs bearing multiple Artifact Runes.

Xiao Yun completed the Azure Wave Feather Fan for Shui Ruoyan, then forged specialized Magic Tools for Shui Yue'er, Yao Yuerou, Yao Zi, and Sheng Minglan. By the end, he had finished gifts suited to each woman's abilities and needs.

• Xiao Yun embedded sixty-three Void Stones into the fan bones, assembled the Azure Wave Feather Fan, and tested its ability to gather moisture and store water.
• Xiao Yun forged the Deep Sea Konghou for Shui Yue'er, designed to strengthen her soundwave abilities and aid her underwater.
• Xiao Yun forged the Thorn Crown for Yao Yuerou, enhancing her flames and vine skills while granting poison and spirit-intimidation effects.
• Xiao Yun forged the Dragon Pattern Bracers for Yao Zi, boosting her strength and defense and letting her suppress Beast Martial Soul users or conceal her dragon aura.
• Xiao Yun forged the Golden Abacus for Sheng Minglan, giving her a tool for business calculations that could also provide defense or teleportation.